Instagram is a hugely popular photo sharing site with over 200 million registered users. Adding authentication for Instagram in Joomla using JFBConnect is a great way to allow new users to register or login to your site. This guide will take you through the full process of creating an Instagram Application.

Before you get started, you will need an Instagram account. If you don't already have, you'll need to create one. The only way to register on Instagram is using one of their mobile apps for iPhone or Android. There is no way to register through their website.

Application Name - A short title for your application or site. Your website name is a good suggestion.

Description - A longer description of your site, possibly including why the user may want to register using Instagram.

Company Name - The name of your company

Website URL - The full URL of your homepage.

Valid redirect_uri - The full path to the root of your Joomla website, including http(s) and index.php:

http://www.yoursite.com/index.php

Please note: If you have a valid SSL certificate installed on your site, you should use the https in the redirect_uri link. In JFBConnect, make sure you enable the "Use SSL For Authentication" setting in the Instagram configuration section.

Privacy Policy URL - URL for a privacy policy on your site.

Contact Email - Email that Instagram can get in touch with you (this is not publicly available).

Your full application setup will look something like:

On the main Instagram Application page, save your Client ID and Secret Key settings to input into JFBConnect:

Submit your Application for Review - Your application will initially be in Sandbox mode. In the Sandbox, only 10 users will be able to authenticate. After that, more users will not be able to login until you go through the review process. To submit your app for review:

Go to the "Permissions" tab in your application.

In the list for "Which use case best describes your Instagram integration"

choose "My app allows people to login with Instagram and share their own content"

In the "API use Case" area, describe your integration with Instagram. A good example would be:"Our site uses Instagram authentication to allow the user to login to our site without having to register a new account"

Video Screencast URL - You must create a video showing the authentication experience on your site using JFBConnect.

JFBConnect v7.0.3 is available now with some great improvements to the best social network integration extension for Joomla. This is the last expected update to the 7.0 release until the 7.1 version, planned for Q4. Read on for all the details of this release and what's coming for JFBConnect later this year. https://www.sourcecoast.com/blog/jfbconnect-v7-0-3-what-s-coming

Between August 3rd and 4th, the Joomla project put out 2 new releases for the 3.6 series and 3 blog posts explaining the changes and how to update. The rapid fire changes may be confusing, especially when reading through the announcement posts that talk about CSRF, PHP versions, security issues with different levels and other details. If you're unsure what to do, read our blog post for a general overview of the updates and a step-by-step guide on how to update. https://www.sourcecoast.com/blog/joomla-3-6-2-fixes-and-updating-explained

Joomla's caching system can be a huge benefit to your site, but can also cause a lot of headaches. The advantages are obvious: an overall better user experience, faster load times, less powerful server requirements and more. Let's talk about some of the pain-points that you should know about when trying to get Joomla's caching setup. https://www.sourcecoast.com/blog/common-joomla-caching-issues

With the launch of v2.0 of the Facebook Graph API over 2 years ago, a new review process was also implemented for all Facebook Applications. The review process is Facebook's way to verify that deeper integration features on your site are abiding by Facebook's Terms of Service. There's a lot to understand about the process and some of it may surprise you. Some JFBConnect features like posting to your Facebook Page usually don't even need to go through the review process. For the features that do need review, what's the process and how do you proceed? Read our blog post to find out. https://www.sourcecoast.com/blog/facebook-app-review-process-step-by-step